U.S. patent application number 12/151651 was filed with the patent office on 2009-05-07 for extension to electrical connector with improved housing structures.
This patent application is currently assigned to HON HAI PRECISION IND. CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Jerry Wu.
Application Number | 20090117784 12/151651 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40588542 |
Filed Date | 2009-05-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090117784 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu; Jerry |
May 7, 2009 |
Extension to electrical connector with improved housing
structures
Abstract
An electrical connector (100) comprises a first housing piece
(2) defining a tongue portion (22) defining a mating surface (221)
thereon, a first set of contacts (3) immovably held in the first
housing piece, a second housing piece (9) assembled to the first
housing piece to form an insulative housing, a second set of
contacts (4) immovably held in the second housing piece, and a
plurality of first and second wires (51, 52) electrically
connecting with the first and second sets of the contacts, and at
least two second wires connected to a single second contact. Each
first contact comprises a nonelastic contact portion (36) exposed
on the mating surface of the tongue portion. The second set of
contacts comprises at least one pair of differential contacts (41)
immovably held in the second housing piece for transferring
high-speed signals. Each of the second set of contacts comprises an
elastic contact portion (45) exposed on the mating surface of the
tongue portion of the first housing piece to be located behind the
nonelastic contact portion along the front-to-back direction.
Inventors: |
Wu; Jerry; (Irvine,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WEI TE CHUNG;FOXCONN INTERNATIONAL, INC.
1650 MEMOREX DRIVE
SANTA CLARA
CA
95050
US
|
Assignee: |
HON HAI PRECISION IND. CO.,
LTD.
|
Family ID: |
40588542 |
Appl. No.: |
12/151651 |
Filed: |
May 8, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11982660 |
Nov 2, 2007 |
7422488 |
|
|
12151651 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/660 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R 13/5845 20130101;
H01R 13/6585 20130101; H01R 9/035 20130101; H01R 13/6593 20130101;
H01R 24/62 20130101; H01R 13/6658 20130101; H01R 13/65915
20200801 |
Class at
Publication: |
439/660 |
International
Class: |
H01R 24/00 20060101
H01R024/00 |
Claims
1. An electrical connector, comprising: a first housing piece
defining a tongue portion defining a mating surface thereon; a
first set of contacts immovably held in the first housing piece,
each first contact comprising a nonelastic contact portion exposed
on the mating surface of the tongue portion; a second housing piece
assembled to the first housing piece to form an insulative housing;
a second set of contacts immovably held in the second housing piece
and comprising at least one pair of differential contacts immovably
held in the second housing piece for transferring high-speed
signals, and each of the second set of contacts comprising an
elastic contact portion exposed on the mating surface of the tongue
portion of the first housing piece to be located behind the
nonelastic contact portion along the front-to-back direction; a
plurality of first and second wires electrically connecting with
the first and second sets of the contacts, and at least two second
wires connected to a single second contact.
2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
first set of contacts are insertmolded with the first housing
piece.
3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
second set of contacts are insertmolded with the second housing
piece.
4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising a substrate electrically connecting the contacts and the
wires.
5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
first housing piece forms a termination section defining a
terminating space and a pair of opposite guiding slots beside the
terminating space, and wherein the substrate slides along the
guiding slots to be received in the terminating space.
6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 5, wherein the base
portion of the first housing piece defines an accommodating space
recessed forwardly therefrom to communicate with the terminating
space, and wherein the second housing piece is received in the
accommodating space.
7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising a metal shell enclosing the insulative housing and forms
a close receiving cavity together with the mating surface of the
tongue portion with the mating portions of the contacts exposed
into the receiving space.
8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
nonelastic contact portions of the first set of contacts are
substantially coplanar with the mating surface of the tongue
portion, and wherein the elastic contact portions of the second set
of contacts are beyond the mating surface.
9. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
geometric profile of the tongue portion is substantially same as
that of a standard type-A USB 2.0 plug.
10. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
nonelastic contact portions of the first set of contacts occupy a
majority of length of the tongue portion along front-to-back
direction with respect to that of the elastic contact portions of
the second set of contacts.
11. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
first set of contacts is adapted for USB protocol and an
arrangement of the first set of contacts is compatible to a
standard USB receptacle, and wherein the pair of differential
contacts are adapted for non-USB protocol.
12. An electrical connector comprising: a first housing piece
defining a tongue portion with a mating surface thereon; a metal
shell enclosing said first housing piece and cooperating with said
mating surface to form a mating port, while the other opposite
surface of the tongue portion being essentially intimately shielded
by said shell; a second housing piece assembled to the first
housing piece and essentially intimately shielded by said shell; a
deflectable first contact immovably held in the second housing
piece and extending relative adjacent to said mating surface with a
first contacting section exposed upon a rear region mating surface;
and a stiff second contact immovably held in the first housing
piece and extending relative farther from said mating surface in
comparison with said first contact, while with a second contact
section deflected to and exposed upon the mating surface.
13. An electrical connector comprising: an insulative main housing
with a plurality of first contacts embedded therein via an insert
molding method; a terminal module with a plurality of second
contacts embedded therein via the insert molding method, assembled
to the main housing wherein the second contacts are inserted
through corresponding passageways in the main housing and exposed
to a same mating face of the main housing with the first contacts;
a printed circuit board sandwiched between tails of the first
contacts and those of the second contacts which are mounted on two
opposite surfaces thereon; and a first set of cables and a second
set of cables connected to the printed circuit board to
electrically connect to said first contacts and said second
contacts.
14. The connector as claimed in claim 13, wherein the first set of
cables and the second set of cables are mounted upon said opposite
surfaces.
15. The connector as claimed in claim 14, wherein the first set of
cables are mounted to the surface opposite to the one the tails of
the first contacts are mounted, and the second set of cables are
mounted to the surface opposite to the one the tails of the second
contacts are mounted.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 11/818,100, filed on Jun. 13, 2007 and entitled "EXTENSION TO
UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONNECOTR WITH IMPROVED COTNACT ARRANGEMENT",
and a copending application entitled "EXTENSION TO ELECTRICAL
CONNECTOR WITH IMPROVED CABLE TERMINATION", both of which have the
same assignee as the present invention; and is a Continued-in-Part
(CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/982,660, filed on Nov.
2, 2007 and entitled "EXTENSION TO ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH
IMPROVED CONTACT ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLING THE SAME",
which has the same inventor and assignee as the present
invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to an electrical connector,
more particularly to an electrical connector compatible to standard
Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 connector.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] Recently, personal computers (PC) are used of a variety of
techniques for providing input and output. Universal Serial Bus
(USB) is a serial bus standard to the PC architecture with a focus
on computer telephony interface, consumer and productivity
applications. The design of USB is standardized by the USB
Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry standard body
incorporating leading companies from the computer and electronic
industries. USB can connect peripherals such as mouse devices,
keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras,
printers, external storage, networking components, etc. For many
devices such as scanners and digital cameras, USB has become the
standard connection method.
[0006] As of 2006, the USB specification was at version 2.0 (with
revisions). The USB 2.0 specification was released in April 2000
and was standardized by the USB-IF at the end of 2001. Previous
notable releases of the specification were 0.9, 1.0, and 1.1.
Equipment conforming to any version of the standard will also work
with devices designed to any previous specification (known as:
backward compatibility).
[0007] USB supports three data rates: 1) A Low Speed rate of up to
1.5 Mbit/s (187.5 KB/s) that is mostly used for Human Interface
Devices (HID) such as keyboards, mice, and joysticks; 2) A Full
Speed rate of up to 12 Mbit/s (1.5 MB/s). Full Speed was the
fastest rate before the USB 2.0 specification and many devices fall
back to Full Speed. Full Speed devices divide the USB bandwidth
between them in a first-come first-served basis and it is not
uncommon to run out of bandwidth with several isochronous devices.
All USB Hubs support Full Speed; 3) A Hi-Speed rate of up to 480
Mbit/s (60 MB/s). Though Hi-Speed devices are commonly referred to
as "USB 2.0" and advertised as "up to 480 Mbit/s", not all USB 2.0
devices are Hi-Speed. Hi-Speed devices typically only operate at
half of the full theoretical (60 MB/s) data throughput rate. Most
Hi-Speed USB devices typically operate at much slower speeds, often
about 3 MB/s overall, sometimes up to 10-20 MB/s. A data
transmission rate at 20 MB/s is sufficient for some but not all
applications. However, under a circumstance transmitting an audio
or video file, which is always up to hundreds MB, even to 1 or 2
GB, currently transmission rate of USB is not sufficient. As a
consequence, faster serial-bus interfaces are being introduced to
address different requirements. PCI Express, at 2.5 GB/s, and SATA,
at 1.5 GB/s and 3.0 GB/s, are two examples of High-Speed serial bus
interfaces.
[0008] From an electrical standpoint, the higher data transfer
rates of the non-USB protocols discussed above are highly desirable
for certain applications. However, these non-USB protocols are not
used as broadly as USB protocols. Many portable devices are
equipped with USB connectors other than these non-USB connectors.
One important reason is that these non-USB connectors contain a
greater number of signal pins than an existing USB connector and
are physically larger as well. For example, while the PCI Express
is useful for its higher possible data rates, a 26-pin connectors
and wider card-like form factor limit the use of Express Cards. For
another example, SATA uses two connectors, one 7-pin connector for
signals and another 15-pin connector for power. Due to its
clumsiness, SATA is more useful for internal storage expansion than
for external peripherals.
[0009] The existing USB connectors have a small size but low
transmission rate, while other non-USB connectors (PCI Express,
SATA, et al) have a high transmission rate but large size. Neither
of them is desirable to implement modern high-speed, miniaturized
electronic devices and peripherals. To provide a kind of connector
with a small size and a high transmission rate for, portability and
high data transmitting efficiency is much desirable. Such kind
electrical connectors are disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,971
(hereinafter 971 patent) issued on Apr. 4, 2006. Detailed
description about these connectors is made below.
[0010] From the FIGS. 4A-6H and detailed description of 971 patent,
we can find that the invention material of 971 patent is to extend
the length of the plug and receptacle tongue portions of the
existing USB connectors and to extend depth of the receiving cavity
of the existing USB connectors, thereby to accommodate additional
contacts in extended areas as shown in FIGS. 4A-5H of 971 patent;
or to provide the additional contacts on a reverse-side of the plug
tongue portion and accordingly with regard to receptacle, to
provide a lower tongue portion under a top receptacle tongue
portion thereby four USB contacts are held on the top tongue
portion and additional contacts are accommodated on the lower
tongue portion of the receptacle. With contrast with existing USB
type-A receptacle, the receptacle with top and lower tongue portion
is higher in height than existing USB receptacle.
[0011] As shown in FIGS. 4C, 4D, 5C, 5D and 6C, 6D of the 971
patent, number of the additional contacts is eight. The eight
additional contacts plus the four USB contacts are used
collectively or in-collectively for PCI-Express, SATA or IEEE 1394
protocol as required. To make the extended-USB plug and receptacle
capable of transmitting PCI-Express or SATA or IEEE 1394 signals is
the main object of the 971 patent. To achieve this object, at least
eight contacts need to be added. Adding eight contacts in existing
USB connector is not easy. May be, only embodiments shown in 971
patent are viable options to add so many contacts. As fully
discussed above, the receptacle equipped with two tongue portions
or plug and receptacle both with a longer length are also
clumsiness. That is not very perfect from a portable and small size
standpoint.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0012] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to
provide an electrical connector with low profile and lower
cost.
[0013] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an
electrical connector comprises a first housing piece defining a
tongue portion defining a mating surface thereon, a first set of
contacts immovably held in the first housing piece, a second
housing piece assembled to the first housing piece to form an
insulative housing, a second set of contacts immovably held in the
second housing piece, and a plurality of first and second wires
electrically connecting with the first and second sets of the
contacts, and at least two second wires connected to a single
second contact. Each first contact comprises a nonelastic contact
portion exposed on the mating surface of the tongue portion. The
second set of contacts comprises at least one pair of differential
contacts immovably held in the second housing piece for
transferring high-speed signals. Each of the second set of contacts
comprises an elastic contact portion exposed on the mating surface
of the tongue portion of the first housing piece to be located
behind the nonelastic contact portion along the front-to-back
direction.
[0014] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and
technical advantages of the present invention in order that the
detailed description of the invention that follows may be better
understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention
will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims
of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] For a more complete understanding of the present invention,
and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following
descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which:
[0016] FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of an extension to
an electrical connector in accordance with the present
invention;
[0017] FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but viewed from a
different aspect;
[0018] FIGS. 3-7 are partially assembled views of the extension to
an electrical connector of FIGS. 1-2;
[0019] FIG. 8 is an assembled, perspective view of the extension to
an electrical connector; and
[0020] FIGS. 9-11 are cross-section views taken along lines 9-9 and
11-11 of FIG. 8.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0021] In the following description, numerous specific details are
set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present
invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art
that the present invention may be practiced without such specific
details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in
block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in
unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing
considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such
details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the
present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary
skill in the relevant art.
[0022] Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe
the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not
necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are
designated by same or similar reference numeral through the several
views and same or similar terminology.
[0023] Within the following description, a standard USB connector,
plug, and signaling all refer to the USB architecture described
within the Universal Serial Bus Specification, 2.0 Final Draft
Revision, Copyright December, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by
reference herein. USB is a cable bus that supports data exchange
between a host and a wide range of simultaneously accessible
peripherals. The bus allows peripherals to be attached, configured,
used, and detached while the host and other peripherals are in
operation. This is referred to as hot plugged.
[0024] Referring to FIGS. 1-2, an extension to an electrical
connector 100, that is a USB plug 100, according to the present
invention is disclosed. The extension to USB plug 100 comprises an
insulative housing 2 which has an insulative base portion 21 and an
insulative tongue portion 22 extending from the insulative base
portion 21 in a front-to-rear direction, an insert 9 assembled to
the insulative housing 2, a first set of contacts 3 and a second
set of contacts 4 supported in the insulative housing 2 and the
insert 9, and a metal shell 7 enclosing the insulative housing 2
and the contacts 3, 4. Besides, a cable 5 having first and second
sets of wires 51, 52, and a substrate 8 is provided to electrically
connect with the contacts 3, 4 at a front end thereof and connect
with the wires 51, 52 at opposite rear end thereof. In order to
provide a strong structure of the extension to USB plug 100, an
outer insulative cover 6 is over molded on a rear section of the
insulative housing 2 together with the metal shell 7, the substrate
8 and the cable 5. In the preferred embodiment, the insulative
housing 2 and the insert 9 are served as first and second housing
pieces 2, 9. The outer insulative cover 6 is adapted for being
grasped by a user when the extension to USB plug 100 is used.
Detail description of these elements and their relationship and
other elements formed thereon will be detailed below.
[0025] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the base portion 21 and the tongue
portion 22 of the insulative housing 2 are integrally injecting
molded as a unit one piece. The base portion 21 comprises a front
engaging section 211 for engaging with the metal shell 7 and a rear
terminating section 212 for the termination between the substrate 8
and the contacts 3, 4. The engaging section 211 defines a plurality
of cutouts 2110 in upper surface thereof adjacent to a front
surface thereof for engaging with the metal shell 7. The rear
termination section 212 is of U-shape and comprises a pair of
lateral walls 2121 rearward extending from opposite sides of the
engaging section 211 to define a terminating space 2122 for
exposing tail portions of the first and second sets of contacts 3,
4 and receiving the substrate 8. Each lateral wall 2121 defines a
guiding slot 2123 recessed outwardly from inner surface thereof for
guiding insertion of the substrate 8 into the terminating space
2122.
[0026] The engaging section 211 defines an accommodating space 2115
recessed forwardly from rear surface thereof to communicate with
the terminating space 2122. Therefore, the engaging section 211 is
divided to form opposite upper and lower flat boards 2116, 2117.
Four first passageways 2111 define through the lower flat board
2117 and five second passageways 2112 define through the engaging
section 211 to communicate with the accommodating space 2115. Each
first passageway 2111 is wider than each second passageway
2112.
[0027] The tongue portion 22 has a first supporting surface 221
lower than the upper surface of the base portion 21 and opposite
second supporting surface 222 coplanar with lower surface of the
base portion 22. Four first passages 223 and five second passages
224 respectively recess downwardly from the first supporting
surface 221 of the tongue portion 22 and are arranged in a front
row and communicating with the first passageways 2111 in height
direction and a rear row aligning with the second passageways 2112
in front-to-back direction. Four deeper front recesses 225 are
recessed downward toward the second supporting surface 222 and
communicate with corresponding first passages 223. Four slits 2250
recess inwardly from the front surface of the tongue portion 22 to
communicate with the recesses 225 with wider width than that of the
recess 225.
[0028] Referring to FIGS. 1-2 in conjunction with FIGS. 3-7, the
first set of contacts 3 include four plug conductive contacts
designated with numeral 31, 32, 33 and 34. The four first contacts
3 are insertmolded with the insulative housing 2 when forming the
insulative housing 2. Thus, the insulative housing 2 has better
intensity and assembly time is decreased. Each first contact 3
comprises a rear flat body section 35 received in the first
passageways 2111 with rear curved tail section 350 thereof exposed
in the terminating space 2122, a flat contacting section 36
embedded in the first passage 223 and coplanar with the first
supporting surface 221, a vertical connecting section 37 connecting
with the body section 35 and the contacting section 36 and embedded
in the tongue portion 22, and a front L-shape tip end 360 embedded
in the front slits 2250 for preventing the upward deflection of the
contacting section 36. The four first contacts 3 are juxtaposed
arranged and the contacting sections 36 thereof are nonelastic. The
body section 35 is parallel to the contacting section 36 and is
much longer than the contacting section 36.
[0029] The additional second set of contacts 4 include two pairs of
differential contacts 41 and a grounding contact 42. The two pairs
of differential contacts 41 are used for transferring/receiving
high-speed signals, and the grounding contact 42 is disposed
between the two pairs of differential contacts 41 for preventing
cross-talk. Each second contact 4 comprises a middle L-shape
retention portion 44 an elastic contact portion 43 extending
forwardly from front section of the retention portion 44 and formed
with an elastic contacting end 430 curved upwardly, and a tail
portion 45 extending rearwardly from rear section of the retention
portion 44 and formed with a connecting end 450 curved downward.
The second contacts 4 are insertmolded with the insert 9 when
forming the insert 9 with the retention portion's 44
interferentially embedded in the insert 9, the front and rear
contact portion 43 and tail portion 45 exposed beyond front and
rear surfaces of the insert 9. Then, the insert 9 together with the
second contacts 4 are assembled to the insulative housing 2 along
rear-to-front direction. The insert 9 is received in the
accommodating space 2115 with ribs 91 thereon abutting against
inner surfaces of the accommodating space 2115 to enhancing the
retention effect between the insert 9 and the insulative housing 2.
The contact portions 443 are received in the second passages 224
with the contacting ends 430 exposed beyond the first supporting
surface 221 of the tongue portion 22. The tail portions 45 are
exposed into the terminating space 2122 to be a row above the tail
sections 350 of the first contacts 3. Thus, the differential
contacts 41 and the grounding contact 42 are juxtaposed with
respect to one another along the front-to-back direction. The
contacting sections 36 of the four first set of contacts 31, 32, 33
and 34 occupy a majority of length of the tongue portion 22 along
the front-to-rear direction with respect to that of the contact
portions 43 of the additional second set of contacts 4. Meanwhile,
the tail portions 45 are offset from the tail sections 350 of the
first set of contacts 31, 32, 33 and 34 in a height direction
perpendicular to the front-to-back direction. The tail portions 45
are located under the tail sections 350 of the first set of
contacts 31, 32, 33 and 34 to prevent electrical shorting. Besides,
each contact portion 43 is cantilevered received in the second
passages 224 and protrudes upwardly beyond the supporting surface
221 so that the contact portion 43 is elastic and deformable when
engaging with corresponding contacts of an extension to USB
receptacle (not shown). The contact portions 43 and the contacting
sections 36 are separated in the front-to-back direction with no
portion of them contacting one another.
[0030] The extension to USB plug 100 is compatible to existing
standard USB receptacle. The geometric profile of the tongue
portion 22 is same as that of the standard USB plug within an
allowable tolerance. That is, length, width and height of the
tongue portion 22 are substantially equal to those of the standard
USB plug. An arrangement of the four first set of contacts 31, 32,
33 and 34 is compatible to that of the standard USB receptacle. The
four first contacts 31, 32, 33 and 34 are for USB protocol to
transmit USB signals. In detail, the four first set of contacts 31,
32, 33 and 34 are for power (VBUS) signal, - data signal, + data
signal and grounding, respectively. So now, from assignment of each
first contacts standpoint, different terminology are given to each
of the four first set of contacts 31, 32, 33 and 34, wherein the
first contacts 31, 32, 33 and 34 are respectively named as power
contact 31, - data contact 32, + data contact 33 and ground contact
34.
[0031] Referring to FIGS. 1-2 in conjunction with FIGS. 9-11, the
metal shell 7 comprises a lower first half 71 and an upper second
half 72 engaging with the first half 71 to form the whole metal
shell 7. The first half 71 comprises a front tube-shape mating
frame 710 and a rear U-shape holding section 712 with opposite
flanges 7120 each formed with a pair of tubers 7121 bending
outwardly for engaging with locking holes 7220 of the second half
72 to secure the first and second halves 71, 72. The front mating
frame 710 defines two pairs of rectangular windows 7101 in upper
and lower walls thereof and a rear locking opening 7102 in upper
wall adjacent to the holding section 712. The second half 72 is
assembled to the rear holding section 712 of the first half 71 and
comprises a n-shape front holding section 722 and a rear crimping
section 721 for grasping the cable 5 to realize strain relief. The
holding section 722 forms two pairs of locking holes 7220 in
opposite lateral walls thereof and a bending tab 7221 bending from
a front edge of upper wall thereof to lock into the locking opening
7102 of the first half 71. After the metal shell 7 is assembled to
the insulative housing 2, the contacts 3, 4, and the substrate 8,
the mating frame 710 of the metal shell 7 touches other three sides
of the tongue portion 22 except the first supporting surface 221,
thus, a receiving cavity 101 circumscribed by the mating frame 710
and the first supporting surface 221 is formed. The contacting
sections 36 of the first set of contacts 3 and the contact portions
43 of the second set of contacts 4 are all exposed in the receiving
cavity 101 for mating with corresponding contact portions of a
complementary connector. An arrangement of the metal shell 7 and
the tongue portion 22 is also compatible with what of standard USB
receptacle.
[0032] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
first set of contacts 3 are all formed of a metal sheet and
separated from one another. It is also to be understood that, in
other embodiments, the first contacts 31, 32, 33 and 34 can be
conductive pads formed on a printed circuit board which is
supported on the supporting surface 221 of the tongue portion 22.
These two options to make contacts are both viable in current
industry.
[0033] The substrate 8 is a flat board with certain thickness.
There are four first contact-connecting pads 81 soldered with the
first set of contacts 3, and five second wire-connecting pads 84 on
front and rear edges of a top surface 80 thereof. There are five
second contact-connecting pads 82 soldered with the second set of
contacts 4 and four second wire-connecting pads 83 on front and
rear edges of a bottom surface 86 thereof.
[0034] The cable 5 comprises the four first wires 51 arranged in a
lower row to be soldered with the four first wire-connecting pads
83 of the substrate 8 to form electrical connection with the first
set of contacts 3, and a pair of second wires 52 arranged in an
upper row to be soldered with the five second wire-connecting pads
84 to form electrical connection with the second set of contacts 4.
Referring to FIGS. 6-7, each first wire 51 comprises an inner
conductor 510 soldered with the first wire-connecting pads 83 and
an outer jacket 512 enclosing the inner conductor 510. Referring to
FIGS. 1-2, the second wires 52 consist of two subassemblies 520.
Each subassembly 520 comprises a pair signal wires 521 each having
the same structure as that of the first wire 51, a grounding
conductor 522 located adjacent to the differential pair 521, and an
outer jacket 523 enclosing the differential pair 521 and the
grounding conductor 522. The two signal wires 521 of the second
wires 52 form a differential pair with reduced crosstalk. The
signal wires 521 are soldered to four second wire-connecting pads
84, while the pair of grounding conductors 522 are both soldered to
the middle wider wire-connecting pad 84. The metal shell 7 is
assembled to the insulative housing 2, the contacts 3, 4, the
substrate 8 and the cable 5 as described above. Then, the outer
insulative cover 6 is overmolded with the metal shell 7, the cable
5.
[0035] Under the non-USB protocol, the two pairs of differential
contacts 41 transfer differential signals unidirectionally, one
pair for receiving data and the other for transmission data.
[0036] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
number of the additional second set of contacts 4 is five which
consists of two pairs of differential contacts 41 and a grounding
contact 42 disposed between each pair of the differential contacts
41 as best shown in FIGS. 1-2 and FIGS. 6-9. However, in
alternative embodiments, the additional second set of contacts 4
can only comprise a pair of differential contacts for
transmitting/receiving high-speed signals, and if necessarily, a
grounding contact can be provided to be positioned on each lateral
side of the pair of differential contacts.
[0037] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been
set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of
the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is
illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in
matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the
principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the
broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are
expressed. For example, the tongue portion is extended in its
length or is arranged on a reverse side thereof opposite to the
supporting side with other contacts but still holding the contacts
with an arrangement indicated by the broad general meaning of the
terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
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